Alien: Covenant

[Kotowboy]

Yeah that's my initial gut reaction.

The end boss Xeno is dispatched WAY too easily. No long build up. Oh well.

[Phoenix87x]

Just 7 days to go...

[Kotowboy]

I never expected this movie to be less enjoyable than Prometheus.

[Mister Gold]

The characters in Prometheus were so memorable!! fantastic writing by Lindelof IMHO

I especially enjoyed the part where a group of scientists go inside the alien spaceship on the alien planet and the first thing they decide to do is to take off their helmets. Or when the biologist freaked out at the sight of a dead alien man, but later tried to make friends with his new pet snake friend. who can forget the female lead scientist rejecting cold, hard evidence because "it's what i choose to believe." well ok then! but my favorite scene was when the geologist used his hi-tech drones to map out the layout of the entire ship, and then somehow managed to get lost with his best friend, the biologist. Just top notch writing all around. 

How subtle your sarcasm is.

The characters were written with horror tropes in mind. They were far from perfect, but not the annoying slasher fodder you see in most poorly written Sci Fi Horror. You have valid criticisms, but it didn't detract from the movie for me.

You're right.

They were worse than that. At least the typical slasher fodder casts have the excuse of being ordinary people to justify their stupidity. This cast is supposed to be the elite batch of scientists of their time.

[Zook]

The characters in Prometheus were so memorable!! fantastic writing by Lindelof IMHO

I especially enjoyed the part where a group of scientists go inside the alien spaceship on the alien planet and the first thing they decide to do is to take off their helmets. Or when the biologist freaked out at the sight of a dead alien man, but later tried to make friends with his new pet snake friend. who can forget the female lead scientist rejecting cold, hard evidence because "it's what i choose to believe." well ok then! but my favorite scene was when the geologist used his hi-tech drones to map out the layout of the entire ship, and then somehow managed to get lost with his best friend, the biologist. Just top notch writing all around. 

How subtle your sarcasm is.

The characters were written with horror tropes in mind. They were far from perfect, but not the annoying slasher fodder you see in most poorly written Sci Fi Horror. You have valid criticisms, but it didn't detract from the movie for me.

You're right.

They were worse than that. At least the typical slasher fodder casts have the excuse of being ordinary people to justify their stupidity. This cast is supposed to be the elite batch of scientists of their time.

Ordinary people aren't borderline retarded, which is the case for just about all slasher film fodder. Yeah, the scientists could have been written better (we found this guy dead, and suddenly he's at our bay gift wrapped for us, maybe I shouldn't walk up to him) but those flaws didn't ruin the movie for me.

[Kotowboy]

There's a lot of silly stuff in Covenant too but it's not quite as daft as Prometheus.

It just suffers from other problems.

Wannabe lofty dialogue with no purpose and action scenes and set pieces that are over in 10 seconds.

I seriously couldn't believe how quickly the final showdown was over with.





I give it

out of

[soupytwist]

Well I saw this last nights, few mates wanted to see it so went along.   It wasn't a film i'd been desperate to see and I'd read Kotowboys thoughts before hand so expectations were low - however I've got to say I was surprised how bad it really was.   Let's get the films one truly memorable moment (for all the wrong reasons) out of the way -  The "self flule-latio fingering scene" this could be one of cinema's great unintentionally hilarious moments, poor Fassbender.

Aside from the above scene rarely is there anything interesting happening, the alien attacks are all the sudden jumpy scare type - no suspense at all, it's not scary at all.  The characters are forgettable fodder, the plot is about Daddy Issues. 

On the plus side those AvP films can now be officially consigned to Non-Canon (if there was any doubt).

Oh and the gestation time for aliens continues the trend of being random.

[Kotowboy]

Ok I've seen it twice now.

It's not TERRIBLE. The first half is decent.

It's just that the action climax is over in ten. minutes.

Not as good as first two. Better than 3 and Resurrection.

[Kotowboy]

David / Walter reminded me a lot of Lore/Data.

One is evil and more human and the other is subservient, emotionless and inquisitive.

Plus the voice of the Covenant sounded a lot like Majel Barett - wonder if that was intentional.

[soupytwist]

Ok I've seen it twice now.

It's not TERRIBLE. The first half is decent.

It's just that the action climax is over in ten. minutes.

Not as good as first two. Better than 3 and Resurrection.

I didn't think it was a patch on 3 and as bad as Resurrection.

Also : "You blow in the little hole and I'll do the fingering".......I know i've already mentioned it - but seriously how did a line like that get though?  How Fassbender managed to keep a straight face (Well two straight faces) saying those words.
 

[Phoenix87x]

I wish they would have just did a simultaneous world wide release. There's all these reviews I am trying to avoid and I am ready to see this thing. Just a few more days...

[Kotowboy]

One of my favourite goofs in Prometheus...

Shaw and Ford carry the head back to the ship from the dome.... Then they say they can't lift the helmet off the head as it's too heavy...

[countoftuscany42]

Just won passes to an early screening in LA on Wednesday, looking forward to seeing this 

[gmillerdrake]

Just won passes to an early screening in LA on Wednesday, looking forward to seeing this 

Awesome!

Gonna see it this Thursday night. Despite hearing some 'bad' reviews I've also heard good ones as well....one i especially trust is a local Movie Reviewer who had good non spoilery things to say...so I'm still looking forward to it as well.

[Kotowboy]

I re watched Prometheus last night and now I don't know which I prefer

I think I may prefer Covenant in the long run but I preferred Prometheus in the cinema.

[soupytwist]

Think the biggest problem is the whole point of the original Alien was that it was a monster movie set in space. Nobody cared where the monster came from, who created it, etc etc Aliens successfully continued the B-movie style by upping the scale of everything.   Now these prequels are trying to add a load of cod-philosophical musings about the origins of the human race, kind off missing the point of what made the films great in the first place.

[Kotowboy]

I liked Covenant more the 2nd time I watched it.

It's not bad - it's just that the climax of the movie is over in like ten minutes.

Almost as if Ridley was like " fine - you want a xenomorph battle ? - HERE... for ten minutes "

But both films definitely have a cool feel throughout and some really great shots and cinematography.

I'm looking forward to the next one. Because even if the films are poor - I can at least look forward to the visuals.

[bosk1]

I was just reading a review and read something that didn't sound right:

The first mate (Mr. Crudup) assumes command and leads his subordinates onto the surface of the green but curiously lifeless planet Origae-6, the very spot where the Prometheus disappeared.

I am assuming this was just a mistake.  The Prometheus crashed into the Engineer ship on the planet (moon?) where all the action in Prometheus took place, which I assume is NOT Origae-6.  I am guessing the writer mistakenly meant "the very spot where the Engineer ship hijacked by David and Shaw disappeared."  Can anyone confirm?

[Mister Gold]

I was just reading a review and read something that didn't sound right:

The first mate (Mr. Crudup) assumes command and leads his subordinates onto the surface of the green but curiously lifeless planet Origae-6, the very spot where the Prometheus disappeared.

I am assuming this was just a mistake.  The Prometheus crashed into the Engineer ship on the planet (moon?) where all the action in Prometheus took place, which I assume is NOT Origae-6.  I am guessing the writer mistakenly meant "the very spot where the Engineer ship hijacked by David and Shaw disappeared."  Can anyone confirm?

No, it's not where Prometheus takes place, but remember that David and Shaw left the planet that Prometheus took place on at the end of that film to go find the Engineers' homeworld.

I'm assuming that is Origae-6.

EDIT: Yeah, basically what you said. The Prometheus landed on a different planet from Origae-6, which was a neighboring planet to LV-246. I think it was called LV-223, but I'd need to double check.

[bosk1]

Right.  Yeah, I think she just got her ships mixed up.  The Prometheus landed and later kamikazeed (is that a word?) into the Engineer juggernaut on LV-something-or-other.  I think the Engineer home world that Shaw and David were off to find in the stolen juggernaut is Origae-6.

[Kotowboy]

Not quite.

Shaw and David leave to find the engineers homeworld and crash on it.

Shaw sends out a distress call - or it's David pretending to be her...

The Covenant takes damage and intercepts the call. They WERE headed to origae 6 but decide to check out this new , closer Goldilocks planet instead.

Which turns out to be the Engineer planet.

[bosk1]

Wait, I thought John Denver sent out the distress call. 

[Kotowboy]

he did.

but it was like 150 years ago and it was in a plane on Earth and he died.

ironically he Left on a jet plane.

[gmillerdrake]

Heading out to see the 9:00 show tonight

[Phoenix87x]

I'm seeing it tomorrow

[gmillerdrake]

Just got back. I'll say I liked it more than Kotowboy. I'm going to wait until Sunday/Monday to really get into talking about it in any depth in order to give those that are planning to see it this weekend.

I'd put it even with Prometheus with leaning towards a bit better actually.....I find myself looking forward to the sequel already.

[Kotowboy]

Just got back. I'll say I liked it more than Kotowboy. I'm going to wait until Sunday/Monday to really get into talking about it in any depth in order to give those that are planning to see it this weekend.

I'd put it even with Prometheus with leaning towards a bit better actually.....I find myself looking forward to the sequel already.

It's OK but they deal with the Xenomorph almost as quickly as Shaw dealt with the Engineer in prometheus.

It's like " here he is ! " .....aaaaaand he's gone.

[gmillerdrake]

Just got back. I'll say I liked it more than Kotowboy. I'm going to wait until Sunday/Monday to really get into talking about it in any depth in order to give those that are planning to see it this weekend.

I'd put it even with Prometheus with leaning towards a bit better actually.....I find myself looking forward to the sequel already.

It's OK but they deal with the Xenomorph almost as quickly as Shaw dealt with the Engineer in prometheus.

It's like " here he is ! " .....aaaaaand he's gone.

Agreed. But, I don't think that movie was about the Aliens. It was about David

[Zantera]

Finally saw it tonight. Would say it held up to my expectations. Not as great as Alien or Aliens but definitely better than pretty much everything else in the franchise (maybe not Assembly Cut of Alien 3) especially a step up from Prometheus.

Sure, I could see the twist at the end coming. And I saw David's true intentions miles away, but I still enjoyed it. I think my biggest gripe with the movie is that the most interesting parts are kinda fast-forwarded through to spend time on other things. I don't want to spoil for those who haven't seen it yet but let's just say that what David has been up to, that's some interesting stuff. But we only really get a short flashback and the rest is pretty much up in the air for our minds to speculate. The ending (without spoiling) does end on an interesting scenario where you want to see what happens next, I'm just scared that the "loose end" will be taken care of off screen and the next movie is basically back to square one.

It sounds like I'm coming off as harsh for someone who liked the movie but I still hope they get to explore the interesting things more in the next one. We know after Covenant how we got to the Egg and how we got to the facehugger and finally the Xenomorph, but it could be neat to get something else than a crew investigating a signal, they come across the alien, insert shots of people running through hallways and 90% of the crew getting picked off. From the trailers and how they presented the eggs I was almost thinking that Covenant would be the planet of the aliens and they would encounter the species in their habitat (kinda like Aliens) but instead we got something else.

[Kotowboy]

The sequence where you see David arrive at the Engineer homeworld and what happens next is my favourite scene in the movie.


Just everything from arriving - docking - releasing the payload - the black cloud of death and THAT awesome high speed tracking shot under the cloud towards the dome at a weird angle.

That's the kind of shit Ridley excels at.


I'm still unsure how David got the eggs. Don't you need a queen for that ? Who laid them ? The Deacons ?

[Zantera]

I'm still unsure how David got the eggs. Don't you need a queen for that ? Who laid them ? The Deacons ?

What came first, the queen or the egg? I kinda got the feeling that David used Shaw to get to the eggs somehow. I don't know how but it felt like he sacrificed her to go one step further down the evolution (her being the only human available as host makes some form of sense).

[gmillerdrake]

Would say it held up to my expectations. Not as great as Alien or Aliens but definitely better than pretty much everything else in the franchise ***snip*** especially a step up from Prometheus.

Yeah...I'd sign off on this. What has it ahead of Prometheus for me is there's more substance to the story....the story being:

what David has been up to, that's some interesting stuff.

but with that being said I totally agree that:

we only really get a short flashback and the rest is pretty much up in the air for our minds to speculate.

which isn't necessarily bad but given the extent of David's living quarters it'd have been interesting to see more of what went into that.

The sequence where you see David arrive at the Engineer homeworld and what happens next is my favourite scene in the movie.


Just everything from arriving - docking - releasing the payload - the black cloud of death and THAT awesome high speed tracking shot under the cloud towards the dome at a weird angle.

That's the kind of shit Ridley excels at.


I'm still unsure how David got the eggs. Don't you need a queen for that ? Who laid them ? The Deacons ?

The flashback is awesome....I'm with Zantera in the fact I'd have liked to seen at least 5-10 minutes of that being explored a tad more...but I'll take what they gave us for now.

As far as 'where' the eggs came from. It's pretty evident David raped the planet of it's indigenous lifeforms...I'm sure one or multiple species were some sort of egg laying/parasite type species. He could have just engineered them. That goes back to what Zantera suggested....more of that would have been neat.


I found it interesting the fondness and love David had for Shaw and then learning Shaw's fate. I supposed being an android David easily separated his mission and objective from whatever 'love' he had for Shaw and was able to use her as a host. That's why I don't think this was an Alien movie per say....but a movie more directed at David, immortality and perhaps the madness that would come from being immortal??

[Kotowboy]

I am Ozymandius. Look upon my works ye mighty and despair.



Dat Scene.


Definitely enjoyed Covenant more 2nd time ( I entered the cinema purposefully late 2nd time around. Missed out the David prologue with Weyland and the accident on the ship. Walked in as they

were about to descend to the planet . )

And watched Prometheus the next day. Has aged for me already. And I used to love it.

I think Covenant's reputation will be better in the long run.

Looking forward to Alien Awakenings.  Ridley allegedly starts shooting it within a year

[Phoenix87x]

Just got back. I will give more thorough thoughts after digestion, but initial thoughts are that I loved it 

I would put it as a strong number 3 behind Alien and Aliens. My heart is still racing. Can't wait for awakenings 

[Kotowboy]

Oh it's easily. EASILY better than Alien³ and Resurrection.

About the only thing i'd change is the Xeno on the ship climax. It needed to be more of a cat & mouse chase like in the original - but it was for too short for my liking.